|
The Kerala Cricket Association(കേരളാ ക്രിക്കറ്റ് അസോസിയേഷന്)- KCA is the governing body of the game of Cricket in the Kerala state of the Republic of India. It is affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. KCA is also the parent body of 14 district Associations – one in each of the revenue districts of Kerala, responsible to govern the game of Cricket in their respective districts. KCA is involved in organising the game from the grass root level to the International level. KCA implements its programs through its Units – The District Associations. It conducts Zone level as well as State level age-group Tournaments for Under-14, Under-16, Under-19, Under-22 and Under-25. State teams of each of this categories are selected through this tournaments. KCA participates in all age group tournaments conducted by the BCCI in both Men and Women Categories. It is also responsible to host National Tournaments and International Matches in the State. Through its unique Program CASH-Kerala, KCA adopts and trains around 500 School Children every year through its District level and State level Cricket Academies. Operation Gold hunt is another unique program of KCA wherein it has adopted and training some selected young athletes; to help them achieving higher goals. ==History== In 1950 Lt. Col. G. V. Raja took initiative to from the Travancore-Cochin Cricket Association. He served as the President of the Travancore-Cochin Cricket Association as well as KCA, from the years 1950 to 1963.〔Kerala Cricket Association Official Website, History-of-KCA : " Col. Godavarma Raja of the Travancore royal family was responsible for putting Kerala on the sports and tourist map of India. The Kerala Cricket Association emerged from the Travancore-Cochin Cricket Association formed by him in 1950. He was the first from the state to become a vice-president of the BCCI." 〕 The primary objective of the Association was to popularise the game in the State of Thiru-Kochi. The formative meeting of the Travancore-Cochin Cricket Association was held in the Auditorium of the Maharaja's College, Eranakulam; thanks to the relentless efforts of the late P. M. Krishnan and the late P. M. Raghavan with great support from the late Lt. Col. Goda Varma Raja. Lt. Col. G.V. Raja, the erstwhile ''Prince Consort'' of Travancore, well revered as the ''patron Saint'' of almost all sporting activities in Kerala. Upon its inception, the Travancore-Cochin Cricket Association selected the first ever Kerala based (Travancore-Cochin) first class team, which was led by P. M. Raghavan. The team played its first match in the Ranji Trophy circuit against Mysore, where the highlight was P. M. Anandan's six wicket haul, conceding only 100 runs in 27 overs in the first innings of the match. After the formation of Kerala, the Travancore-Cochin Cricket Association was renamed Kerala Cricket Association or KCA. There had been contributions from a number of families in Kerala for the development of Cricket in the state. These families include the likes of Edathil, Acharath, Moorkoth, Mampally and Pazhaya Parambath. The Mampally family was arguably the leaders amongst them, as apart from a number of members from this family playing higher level Cricket, it also had put a lot of effort for the betterment of Cricket in Kerala. The Acharath family also contributed to the game's development in Kerala, by donating personalities like ACM Abdulla the farsighted administrator, Babu Acharath the elegant player and Coach and Mackey the sparkling all rounder and coach. There were certain intrinsic difficulties that hindered the progress of Kerala cricket. Since the South-Western monsoon rains hit the Kerala Coast as early as the first week of June every year, the Cricketing season could only start in October as opposed to June–July in other parts of the Country. Being a small strip of land between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, availability of land is a big challenge in the State; hence the sporting infrastructure is generally shared by multiple sports disciplines. This was a major hindrance in developing permanent turf pitches and decent outfields. The extent of the problem was so much, so that till very recently the only exclusive Cricket ground in Kerala was owned by the Thripunithura Cricket Club; which is physically located in a manner which presented little or no scope for further development; in spite of the relentless efforts by the successive Club authorities. The absence of finance was a further handicap. Since there were no Stadia with the required facilities available in the State till very recent past, scope of hosting international matches was nonexistent. This hindered the Association's efforts of raising funds. Participation of the State teams in the national tournaments like Ranji trophy usually poised a big struggle to the administrators. These predicaments were overcome only with the sheer willpower of the then administrators and to a great extent with the generous and timely financial assistance provided by philanthropists like S. V. Pandit. Gradually however, things made a turn for the better, and through the sixties, the State participated in the various inter-school and age group tournaments run by the BCCI. The mid nineties had been a period of eminence for Cricket in Kerala, when its Ranji Trophy side qualified to the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time in the 1994/95 season. The team continued its fete in the next season as well when they qualified to the super league staged of the tournament. Players like Ananthapadmanabhan, Sunil Oasis, Feroze V Rasheed, M Suresh, Ajay Kuduva, Sreekumar Nair, Ramprakash and Sujith Somasunder had contributed profoundly to this achievement. Of them Ananthapadmanabhan was considered as a definite Indian Team prospect; but for the presence and form of none other than the legend Anil Kumble. The last two decades had witnessed a paradigm shift in Kerala Cricket in both ways; performing as a team and as individuals. Beginning with pacer Tinu Yohanan's inclusion in the National side, the tempo was sustained by the inclusion of S Sreesanth later on. The present day Kerala Cricket teams are making deep inroads in almost all BCCI tournaments as the State is slowly emerging as one of the powerhouses of Indian Cricket. This can be corroborated with the fact that as many as 7 players from the State are playing in the Indian Premier League representing different teams; of whom the teenage sensation Sanju Samson has become an icon of the emerging face of Kerala Cricket after his prolific performances in the League for the Rajasthan Royals. Sanju was chosen as the best young player of the League. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kerala Cricket Association」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|